Speaking to reporters in Belgium after a fiery Nato Summit, Trump had described the UK as a “hot spot right now with a lot of resignations” and dismissed the Prime Minister’s Chequers plan on the next stage of Brexit.

“I would say Brexit is Brexit,” he told reporters.

“The people voted to break it up so I would imagine that’s what they would do, but maybe they’re taking a different route, I don’t know if that is what they voted for.”

He added that it seemed as if the UK was “getting at least partially involved back with the European Union”.

“I’d like to see them be able to work it out so it could go quickly,” he said.

It comes just days after Trump declined to say whether May should remain in post, said he had “always liked” Boris Johnson, who quit as foreign secretary over the Chequers agreement, and described the UK as being in “turmoil”.

The Trumps landed in Air Force One at Stansted Airport at lunchtime on Thursday to kick-start a four-day working visit to Britain as protests against his trip began.